Cost of living comparison

compared to

Mexico vs. Playa del Carmen Cost of Living Summary

Mexico is 4.9% cheaper than Playa del Carmen.

Restaurants: pay 18.8% less in Mexico
Groceries: pay 3.6% more in Mexico
Transportation: pay 10.4% less in Mexico
Housing: pay 20.3% less in Mexico
Childcare: pay 9.9% more in Mexico
Entertainment and Sports: pay 9.1% less in Mexico
Clothing: pay 10.5% more in Mexico

The cost of clothing, childcare, and groceries in Mexico are more expensive than in Playa del Carmen. Expenses including housing, restaurants, transportation, and entertainment and sports are lower in Mexico.

Mexico vs. Playa del Carmen Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Mexico instead of Playa del Carmen, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 18.8% less for restaurants

	Playa del Carmen	Mexico
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$11.90 MX$214.28	$10.13 MX$182.57	-14.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.83 MX$195.11	$8.37 MX$150.74	-22.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.62 MX$29.24	$1.38 MX$24.79	-15.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.34 MX$24.17	$1.04 MX$18.78	-22.3%
Average			-18.8%

Playa del Carmen vs. Mexico - Cost of restaurants

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pay 3.6% more for groceries

	Playa del Carmen	Mexico
Bread 1 loaf	$1.98 MX$35.62	$2.62 MX$47.15	+32.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.33 MX$78.04	$4.26 MX$76.76	-1.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.50 MX$99.04	$5.95 MX$107.16	+8.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.27 MX$40.85	$2.45 MX$44.13	+8.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.76 MX$67.72	$3.68 MX$66.21	-2.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.30 MX$23.34	$1.27 MX$22.83	-2.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.64 MX$11.59	$0.67 MX$12.12	+4.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.90 MX$16.15	$0.93 MX$16.69	+3.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.94 MX$16.88	$0.83 MX$14.86	-11.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.85 MX$15.34	$0.90 MX$16.17	+5.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.02 MX$18.44	$0.98 MX$17.63	-4.4%
Average			+3.6%

Playa del Carmen vs. Mexico - Cost of groceries

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pay 10.4% less for transportation

	Playa del Carmen	Mexico
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.02 MX$90.51	$5.00 MX$90.12	-0.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$27.08 MX$487.76	$28.70 MX$517.01	+6.0%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$31,003.27 MX$558,489.75	$23,996.60 MX$432,272.31	-22.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$25.93 MX$467.05	$19.51 MX$351.48	-24.7%
Average			-10.4%

Playa del Carmen vs. Mexico - Cost of transportation

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pay 20.3% less for housing

	Playa del Carmen	Mexico
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$30.51 MX$549.55	$29.35 MX$528.75	-3.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,072.23 MX$19,315.05	$587.67 MX$10,586.16	-45.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$484.68 MX$8,730.98	$443.50 MX$7,989.08	-8.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$64.40 MX$1,160.10	$49.22 MX$886.72	-23.6%
Average			-20.3%

Playa del Carmen vs. Mexico - Cost of housing

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pay 9.9% more for childcare

	Playa del Carmen	Mexico
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$204.43 MX$3,682.62	$236.91 MX$4,267.68	+15.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$5,361.26 MX$96,577.27	$5,569.03 MX$100,319.97	+3.9%
Average			+9.9%

Playa del Carmen vs. Mexico - Cost of childcare

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pay 9.1% less for entertainment and sports

	Playa del Carmen	Mexico
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.12 MX$56.20	$2.44 MX$43.88	-21.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.46 MX$62.34	$3.34 MX$60.15	-3.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.17 MX$75.12	$4.42 MX$79.56	+5.9%
Monthly membership at local gym	$60.49 MX$1,089.73	$39.27 MX$707.36	-35.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$4.98 MX$89.79	$5.43 MX$97.88	+9.0%
Average			-9.1%

Playa del Carmen vs. Mexico - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 10.5% more for clothing

	Playa del Carmen	Mexico
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$43.98 MX$792.24	$53.04 MX$955.43	+20.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$41.89 MX$754.55	$40.66 MX$732.36	-2.9%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$75.82 MX$1,365.74	$95.33 MX$1,717.34	+25.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$88.61 MX$1,596.30	$87.49 MX$1,576.01	-1.3%
Average			+10.5%

Playa del Carmen vs. Mexico - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

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